Keeping our Humanity is a Choice
by Ralyssene118
Summary: The team has been captured by Lotor who after finding out that Keith is part-Galra wants to recruit him to join the Galra. But how to do that? Break Voltron apart of course.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello Everyone! This is my first story in this fandom and I am** **really**_ **excited to try it out. I just found Voltron** **fairly** **recently** **and have loved every second of it and so decided to try my hand at a story. As of right now in my story, season 5 has not** **happened** **(mostly** **because** **it was not out when I started writing this) and the Shiro in this story is the real Shiro (not the Clone Shiro). But** **everything** **else should be** **relatively** **the same. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Lotor smiled as he looked down on his colorful array of prisoners. Finally, his patience and planning paid off in the end. The paladins of Voltron knelt before him.

"How the mighty have fallen!" he said with a grin.

"What do you want?" Shiro asked.

"I know that the castle and your lions got away. I want to know where they went."

"NEVER!" all five paladins roared.

"All right. I was expecting that. I guess I will have to do this the hard way."

"Do what?" Hunk asked.

"Break voltron apart."

"And how do you suppose to do that?" Lance sarcastically asked, still fidgeting in his restraints.

"Simple. To break something down you start with the foundation, the legs if you will."

Two guards came up and grabbed Lance and Hunk and dragged them out of the room.

"Where are you taking them?" Keith yelled fighting the guards restraining him.

Lotor went on like he didn't hear him. "And then you rip out the supports, the arms."

Shiro tried to step in front of Pidge protectively, but was beaten to her by a guard. She and Keith were dragged out of the room in the same way.

Here, Lotor got down and knelt before Shiro. Grabbing his face, he turned Shiro back and forth as if inspecting him. "But we all know the most important part is the head."

Shiro yanked his face out of Lotor's grip. "It doesn't matter what you do to us. Voltron will never be yours."

Lotor just laughed as he motioned for his guards to take Shiro away as well. He sat down on his throne and smiled with delight. This was going to be so much fun.

* * *

Hunk and Lance continued to put up a fight for the guards that were dragging them. Hunk, being significantly stronger than the lankier blue paladin seems to be making headway when a well timed punch to Hunk's stomach effectively knocked the air out of him. He slumped in the guards grasp and Lance immediately noticed.

"Hunk?" Lance asked desperately, wanting to make sure his friend was ok.

"I'm fine." Hunk wheezed. That's when they realized that they were being pulled separate directions.

"Wait." Lance creid. "Aren't we supposed to be together. You know, the whole legs of Voltron."

"Lotor's orders." a sentry said as they continued to pull them apart.

"Hunk!"

And that was the last Hunk heard of his friend as the rounded a corner and he was dragged along to some other cells. The sentry opened the door and threw him in and close the door behind him. Hunk got up, his stomach already feeling a little better from the punch and began to look around. He tried to peek out of his cell to cell where they had taken Lance and was met by another group coming down the hall.

"Get off me." a distinctive voice carried down to him letting him know that the green paladin was soon coming to join him, hopefully. The guards came up to the door, opened it, threw Pidge in and closed it behind her. Hunk rushed up to Pidge.

"Hunk." she sighed, face full of relief.

"Hey Pidge."

Pidge looked around the cell. "Where's Lance?"

"They carried him down a different hallway. Where's Keith?"

"The same, they split us up."

Hunk went to sit down against the wall. "Well, I guess all we can do now is wait."

Pidge went and sidled up next to Hunk. They fell into a comfortable silence as they waited and soon dozed off.

* * *

Lance was thrown into a cell. The door closed behind him, and he took the time to look around his cell. "Home sweet home." he muttered aloud to the silence. He looked at the chains hanging on the wall and wondered if he and them were going to become good friends soon.

Suddenly the door opened and Keith was thrown in next to him. The door shut leaving the two boys alone.

"Where's Hunk?" Keith asked, looking around the cell and not finding anybody else. Lance shrugged. "I don't know. They took him down a different hallway." Lance looked around Keith, looking for the other members of his team. "Where are Shiro and Pidge?"

"Same thing probably," Keith sighed. "At least for Pidge. Shiro was still with Lotor, when they dragged me and Pidge out."

Keith had barely finished his sentence when the door opened again, putting the paladins on high alert.

"Come with us, Blue."

"Not a chance." Keith said, gearing up for a fight. All his anger drained as Lance's hand dropped on one of his fists. "It's ok, Keith. It'll be worse if we don't."

The guards grabbed Lance and manhandled him out of the cell and shut the door behind him. Keith ran up to the bars. "Where are you taking him?"

There was no response by the Galra and as they turned the corner, Keith lost sight of the Blue Paladin.

* * *

 _ **Hope that was good. It's really kinda short, but I feel like this was a good ending point for the first chapter/prologue to my story. Give me a shoutout for likes or dislikes or even just to say good story! Also, I'm not super happy with the title, so thoughts on that would be** **appreciated**_ _ **as well. Thanks ~ Ralyssene118**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**WOW! The response to the first chapter was more than I had hoped for. A big thanks to everyone that f** **avorited**_ **, followed, or reviewed! It made my day!**

 _ **Here's Chapter 2! Enjoy!**_

* * *

Lance came back, late that night, pretty beat up. Lance had fallen asleep really quickly last night, after leaning up against the wall and insisted that he was fine. Keith scooted over next to him and Lance fell asleep on his shoulder almost instantly. This way Keith got a good look at his teammate. There were multiple marks all over his body that look like it hurt, but there was no mortal damage. Keith knew that could change at any minute though, whenever the guards would come for them again. Suddenly, the light started to grow in the hallway of their cell and Keith knew that there was no way Lance was leaving this cell with them. The guards came in. Lance had still not woken up. The commander came to the door. "We are here for the blue paladin."

Keith just hugged Lance even tighter to himself. "No." he growled.

The guards still advanced.

"I said no!" Keith growled again and the guards stood back in shock as Keith teeth suddenly had fangs. "If you want him, you will have to kill me first. And trust me, you don't want to do that."

"Why ever not? Without one paladin, they can't form Voltron." the commander chuckled.

"True, but Lotor wants information out of us." Keith said, continuing the conversation. "You have to keep us nice to get the information right? I'm of no use to you dead."

"So what are you offering, paladin?"

"Me." Keith stated, his fangs receding as his anger did. "I would be a much better use of your time."

"Would you be? The commander said, coming closer and inspecting Keith.

"I guarantee it." Keith growled.

The commander seemed satisfied. "All right, Red paladin. You get your wish." Two guards grabbed Keith's arms pulling away from Lance who chose that exact moment to regain consciousness. He looked around blearily. "Keith?"

"I'll be back, Lance."

"No, Keith."

"It'll be fine, Lance. I'll see you tonight ok."

"Keith! No! Wait! Take me, take me, take…"

But it was too late. The door had already slammed shut in Lance's face.

* * *

Keith was dragged into a room. It was a fairly simple and small room. It had a table with restraints along the far wall of the room and chains hanging from the ceiling in the center. As Keith put up a fight with the guards trying to restrain him on the table, he shuddered as he saw a Druid appear behind a control panel. The guards managed to get one arm in the restraints, but Keith continued to fight.

"Keep struggling paladin. It's fun to watch you squirm."

Keith immediately stilled. It didn't matter that it made it easier for the guards to finally restrain him, it was worse to give the Galra what he wanted.

Then, Lotor came into the room. Looking around, his eyes fell on Keith with confusion. "Where's the Blue One? Please tell me we didn't break him already."

Keith growled as the guard answered Lotor. "He was still pretty hurt from yesterday. The red one here volunteered to take his place and so I took him instead. They seem pretty protective of each other."

Lotor nodded at the guard's report. "Maybe this will make Blue more talkative. We were so close yesterday…." He turned his attention to Keith. "And what's your name, Red?"

Keith stayed silent. There was no way that he was getting answers from him.

Lotor nodded to the Druid and suddenly Keith's body was on fire.

The fire was gone as soon as it came, leaving Keith gasping for breath.

"What is your name, paladin?" Lotor repeated.

Keith glared at the Galra prince and stayed silent.

Again, the fire erupted and Keith clamped his mouth shut to keep from screaming. He would not give his captors the satisfaction. The fire eventually subdued and Keith felt exhausted. He did feel a tingling sensation at the back of his neck that felt kind of weird, but he could not focus on that right now.

Lotor sighed. "Blue was so much more forthcoming." He sighed again. "Tsk. tsk. You know, maybe I should just go grab him. If you are not going to be forthcoming with any answers, I'm sure he will be when he sees you in pain."

"No." Keith mumbled, his voice all out of whack from being subdued. There was no way that Lance was coming here. That was the whole reason Keith was here in the first place.

Lotor could barely hear him. "What was that?"

"No."

"No what Red? You need to be more specific than that."

Keith felt the tingling at the back of his neck getting stronger as his anger and protectiveness for Lance grew. "Don't bring Lance in."

"Then tell me your name."

How much did Lotor know? Could he lie and get away with it? One way to find out….

"It's Jace." He had heard the name a few times because Lance would always compare him to this "Jace." It might have been from a book that Lance had read but he couldn't remember.

Lotor motioned to the Druid and Keith's body arched off the table with the energy that ran through him.

"You're lying, Keith." Lotor purred. Keith was surprised to find Lotor very close. He wasn't that close before was he…?

"How do you know?"

"Oh, I know everything." Lotor said smiling. "I know you promised the commander here that you were going to be a good boy. You've been nothing but trouble."

"You should have known that was going to happen if you know everything."

Lotor nodded again and Keith subtly realized through the fire that the Druid had upped the voltage. Lotor was not playing. The tingling in his neck was now inching his way across his neck.

"I'm done with you today, if you have nothing to offer me. Blue, oh what was his name again...? Lance was much more entertaining. I think I want him back."

"Don't you touch him!" Keith growled. He was surprised when his tongue hurt out of nowhere. He investigated his mouth and found a sharp presence where his canines should have been. _Did he have fangs?_

At his moment, Lotor also found something. He looked towards Keith's neck, where there was a slight discoloration. Upon closer look, it was purple, _Galra purple._

"Quick, knock him out." Lotor ordered and the Druid upped the voltage.

Keith screamed and passed out from the druid's pulse and as he fell flat on the table, the purple skin and fangs started to fade away. Lotor looked at the still red paladin.

"That's very interesting." He looked to the druid. "Run some tests on this one. He may not be as human as he seems." _If he's part Galra_ , Lotor thought, _then he is just like me. We could be amazing. The things we could do together! Prove to my father that half-breeds are just as good as the rest of the Galra. But to do that, I need him on my team. But how to do that?_

"Grab the other paladins but bring the black and green ones to me." Lotor stated to the guards. "I have another experiment I need to run."

* * *

 _ **Well, that was Chapter 2! I hope you all enjoyed! Bonus points to the people who can guess the book series where Jace is from. It's one of my favorites. As always leave a review with what you liked or didn't like! Till next time ~ Ralyssene118**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hello everyone! Sorry for the long update! almost 2 months (YIKES). I had finals and then came home and tried to find a job and had to fight off a little bit of writers block, but I think I know where I want this story to go now. I am still in the process of connecting the bits and pieces that I write together and so updates should happen a little more often than 2 months... anyway, without further adieu here is chapter three.**_

 _ **P.S Thanks for everyone that reviewed last chapter. In answer to that question, the "Jace" I was referencing is from a book series called Five Kingdoms by Brandon Mull, who is an author I love.**_

 _ **Warning: This chapter does get a little dark, but threats are about as dark as it is going to get. Just be informed**_.

* * *

Previously...

 _"Grab the other paladins but bring the black and green ones to me." Lotor stated to the guards. "I have another experiment I need to run."_

* * *

The guards came in and Hunk stood protectively in front of Pidge sending a clear warning.

"Stand aside and no one gets hurt." the guard stated.

"There is no way I am letting Pidge out my sight."

"All right, hard way it is."

In an instant, Hunk was subdued and Pidge was dragged out of the cell. As she was dragged around the corner, she watched Hunk be dragged off as well, but in the other direction from her. She tried to keep track of the twists and turns, but the ever present color of purple did not make that easy. A set of doors opened and she found herself in Lotor's throne room. The guards threw her down in front of Lotor. She was not cowed however.

"I am very fascinated by you, Pidge or should I say Katie."

Pidge flinched at her real name. _How did he know that? Only Shiro knows that. Well only Shiro and….."_

"Where's my family?" she snarled.

"Settle down." Lotor said, motioning to some guards to come hold her still. "Your story fascinates me, Katie. A girl brave enough to act and dress like a man just to find her family. I wonder how far that bravery and loyalty extends."

Pidge did not like where this was going.

Lotor motioned to a door where Shiro was brought out, gagged. When he saw who was in the throne room, he fought with everything he had until he was subdued by a druid's electric pulse. He tried not to show the pain, but a painful groan drafted through the air to Pidge's ear.

"No, stop!" she said pleading with the creature in front of her. Lotor motioned for the torture to stop.

"What do you want?" She yelled back at him.

"You." Lotor said simply as he held up a pair of chains connected to his throne. Pidge felt sick and Shiro began to fight again, this time you could hear the "NO!" through his gag. It morphed into another grunt of pain as the druids electrocuted him again.

"Stop."

Lotor motioned for the druids to stop. He looked meaningfully at the chains. After a few minutes of indecision from Pidge, Lotor threw a switch on his throne. "Maybe this will help make up your mind."

Three screens came up, each with a paladin and a druid on it.

Pidge ran up to the screens. "Keith! Lance! Hunk!"

"They can't hear you." Pidge heard from behind her. "But you can hear them." Pidge looked back to Lotor in confusion but was drawn back to the screens as she heard Keith's scream as Druid electricity lit up his screen. Pidge looked away but then looked back at the screens when Lance's screams joined the fray. She looked at Lotor, horror in her face as she realized what he was doing. She turned away from the screens and made the mistake of looking for Shiro. He was now receiving the same treatment.

"Please stop!" She closed her eyes but opened them again as one last sound entered the fray. Hunk! They were torturing him too. Her entire team was suffering because of her.

"Choose girl, or they might not make it."

Shiro had somehow managed to get his gag off. He yelled "No Pidge, don't listen. We're fine, we're fine. Don't do it. Don't..aaaggh." Shiro was cut off as a guard punched him, knocking him to the ground, dazing him. A duet of painful gasps from Lance and Keith permeated into her ears. She was sobbing wholeheartedly now.

"Please, please make it stop."

"You know how to make it stop."

Pidge looked up at Lotor with as much hate as she possibly could put into that gaze. It all melted away in a second as a scream came from Hunk. She turned and looked and saw Hunk passed out in his cell, screams from the rest of her teammates fading as their bodies started to follow Hunk into unconsciousness. She broke.

"Fine, I'll do it. Just please, stop hurting them." Lotor smiled and pushed a button. The screams of her friends stopped and the screens retreated back to where they appeared from. Pidge walked to where the chains were.

"Katie, no." Shiro whispered, trying, but failing to get up from the floor.

Pidge turned around and saw the pure concern and despair on Shiro's face. She hated to do this, especially when she saw how much it was hurting him. Shiro never used her real name.

"I'm sorry, Shiro. There's no choice." She turned to Lotor.

"Kneel." Lotor said.

Pidge did so. Two guards came and twisted her hands behind her back chaining her wrists to the arm of Lotor's throne. Lotor smiled. "Take the black paladin back to his cell and make sure that him and the others are well fed tonight as a reward for their good behavior." He got off his throne and knelt down in front of Pidge, petting her face. "Now, stay here my sweet. I'll be back for you later. I have another paladin to visit."

* * *

Lance's body collapsed on the table. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. He was confused as to why Lotor was doing this now, when he wasn't even in here to ask questions. But, he was just glad that it was just him and not anybody else on his team receiving this treatment, as far as he knew. He still hadn't seen Keith after he had been dragged out, but he hoped he was ok. He let his head fall back against the metal table, trying to get comfortable. Usually, he would be done by this point and the Druid would release him to go back to his cell. It seemed, however, that this was not a usual situation. After what seemed like forever to Lance, the door opened revealing Lotor. Lotor walked up to Lance as if inspecting a piece of meat. "So Lance, how are you feeling?"

"Just peachy." Lance fired back. A druid lit up their hand meaning to punish him for the outburst but Lotor told him to not to. "Lance knows the punishments for talking out. Besides I'm not here to cause more pain. I'm trying to help."

"Help? If you wanting to help, you have a weird way of showing it. Weren't you trying to break us apart?"

"I want to help Keith and you are the key to that."

 _Huh?_ That was not the answer he was suspecting. "Help Keith with what?" Lance asked confused.

Lotor just laughed. "Are you not aware of Keith's special DNA?"

Lance tried to keep his face neutral. Sure, the whole team knew that he was half Galra, but they swore not to tell anybody because who would trust a Galra as part of Voltron. However, only Lance knew how much insecurity that one fact gave the Red Paladin. Not knowing who you are and then finding out you are part of the enemy is a hard pill to swallow. Add on to that that aliens exist when for most of your life on Earth they didn't can really make a person rethink their life.

Lotor smirked. "I take it by your silence that you do know about his heritage. I am just trying to help him with that."

"Help him how? By joining you? He will never join you! We are his family now!" Lance shot back.

Lotor grabbed Lance by the hair and brought his head down on the table, hard. "Well, that's why I have to break all of you. I'm not going to stop until he does and trust me I have lots of ways to manipulate your team. You all care for each other too much. The lovely green paladin just proved that to me."

Lotor reveled in how fast Lance's face morphed into horror. "What did you do to her?" he yelled, fighting against his restraints.

"Oh nothing. I just gave her a choice and she picked her team over herself. She must care for you all a great deal." Lotor scoffed. "Weakness if you ask me." Lotor turned to walk out but not before Lance's voice wafted through.

"Caring for people is not weakness. It's what makes us human."

Lotor turned on his heel. "Humans are weak. It's amazing that your planet has survived this long. Nothing wears you out more than caring for people." With that, Lotor gave a signal to the druid, prepping the electricity bolts. He started to walk away when Lance's voice floated over to him.

"But that also makes us stronger. There must be a reason why you haven't beaten Voltron yet."

Lotor continued to walk out of the cell, not rising to the bait that the blue paladin was giving.

"And you never will." Lance smirked.

Lotor turned around to glare at the smirking paladin in front of him. He looked back to the Druid "You know what to do."

Lance gritted his teeth in preparation. But nothing could have prepared him for this amount of druid energy. Lotor smirked as he left the cell Lance's screams like music to his ears.

* * *

 _ **Special thanks to one of my friends who beta read this chapter and said "Lance should have the last word." I changed it and I was so happy with that whole part. As always, leave a review with things you liked and/or didn't like. They are really the best way to know if people enjoy what you are writing (and they make the authors happy too.)**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**I'm back with another update and that is all I really have to say right now. SUPER EXCITED FOR SEASON 7 though!**_

 _ **Again, warnings. Threats are there, but that is all they are.**_

* * *

Keith was dragged into the throne room, protesting all the way. The guards threw him down as soon as they entered the throne room. "WHERE IS HE!" Keith yelled.

"Who?" Lotor asked.

"You know who. Where have you taken him?"

"Keith" a soft whisper came and it penetrated the red in Keith's tunnel vision. _Pidge?_ He looked around and finally spotted her. _Chained. to. Lotor's. throne._

Keith saw red again. "Let her go." he growled, thoughts of Lance temporarily forgotten.

Lotor just laughed. "But she's so nice. I have never had such company as this for a while. You humans are quite a rare race." Here, Lotor reached a hand to Pidge's head and starting petting her. "Such wonderful minds and such beauty."

Something in Keith broke at the look of desperation and hopelessness on Pidge's face as the scene unfolded. Lotor was sick. He could torture all the paladins and they wouldn't talk but this, this was just inhuman.

"Don't touch HER!" Keith yelled, rushing forward to the throne.

He almost made it until a guard's staff got a lucky hit to his stomach and he crashed right in front of the throne.

Lotor tsked. "Honestly, I expected a better performance out of you, Keith. You are half Galra after all."

Keith looked up incredulously at Lotor.

"But you just proved to me that you really are just boring. Maybe I'll retire for the night." He grabbed Pidge's face and whispered to her. "Don't miss me too much."

It took all the courage she had but Pidge spat in Lotor's face. Keith smiled.

Lotor on the other hand glared daggers at the girl chained to his throne. "You will pay for that, little lady. You and all your little paladin friends." He motioned to his guards. "Here, take this one and have some fun with her.

Keith at the word fun started to get up and fought against the guards holding him hard.

"Just make sure to do it where all of her team can watch." Lotor added with a smirk.

Pidge looked to Keith with absolute terror on her face as the guard came up.

Keith fought against his guards but to no avail.

Pidge was unhooked from the throne and tears were streaming down her face as the guard dragged her down the throne next to Keith.

"KEITH!" she sobbed, reaching out for him.

"NO, wait please!" Keith begged Lotor as Pidge was being dragged further away from him.

At a signal from Lotor, the guards released both paladins and Pidge ran into Keith's arms. Usually this would not happen between the two of them, but right now it felt as natural as breathing. She held onto him for dear life and Keith swore he was not going to let go. Not until Pidge was safe.

"Shh," he whispered. "It will be alright."

"No, it's not going to be Keith. You know that as much as I." Lotor said as he motioned to the guards again. Keith saw the guards coming again and tightened his grip on the green paladin in his arms. He was not going to let Pidge get hurt.

He looked up at Lotor, hate in his eyes. Lotor looked like he was expecting something.

He looked back down at Pidge and he made his decision.

"Lotor, take me in her place."

Keith felt Pidge's gasp against him but kept his eyes trained on Lotor. Lotor just looked aghast.

"You?"

"Anything to stop you from hurting her."

"Oh, we don't have to go to that extreme."

"Then what? I'll do anything."

"Anything?"

Keith could feel Pidge nodding no but continued. "Anything to stop you hurting her."

Lotor smiled. "Oh Keith, I don't want to hurt you. You have Galra blood in your veins. I want you to join me."

"Join you?"

"I think you heard me."

"Never!"

"Then her punishment stands and your friends lives are forfeit."

The guards started taking Pidge away and Keith held on tighter. "No. please." The guard backed off at a signal from Lotor.

Keith looked at Lotor with a look of horror on his face. What he was asking him to do was unthinkable, but if he said no, the consequences would be... he couldn't even let the thought continue.

"Keith," Pidge said. "Don't do it. It'll be fine. We are your team now and always will be. I'm strong. I'll get through it."

That was the last straw for Keith. Pidge was trying to be strong for him and she was going to be…..he couldn't let the thought continue.

"Actually, I have better idea." Lotor interrupted.

Still hanging on to Pidge, Keith stared Lotor down. "And what would that be?"

"What if I let her go?"

Keith's eyes widened. "What?"

"You heard me. I would let her go. Completely free."

"Why?"

Lotor sighed. "My father said that you fight like a Galra soldier. I have not seen very many of those qualities in you yet and I wonder if I just haven't done the right experiment yet."

"Is that all I am? An experiment?"

"No, I just want to help you unlock your potential."

Keith looked down at the floor, thinking about what Lotor was saying.

"Here's my new deal. You try to escape, right now, on your own. I have checkpoints set up throughout the ship. There are 5, 4 for each of your teammates and 1 for you. Every checkpoint you successfully pass, wins another paladin's freedom. If you make it all the way out, you escape scotch free. Otherwise…" and Lotor left it at that.

Pidge released her death grip on Keith and turned around to face Lotor. "What's the catch?"

"No catch. Just trying to work out the kinks in my security. It has been pretty lax when it comes to the Paladins of Voltron." He looked at Keith. "What do you say, Red Paladin?"

"I have your word that my teammates go free, even if I don't make it through all the way?"

"Upon my honor." Lotor said.

"You have a deal."

Lotor smiled and motioned the guards next to Keith to bring him up to Lotor. After making sure, no one hurt Pidge, he walked up to Lotor's throne. Lotor grabbed Keith's wrist and put a tracking device on it. "I'm not going to tell you where the checkpoints are, but know that the last one is you successfully starting a pod. Each time you pass a checkpoint, a light will come on. If you successfully start a pod, your team goes free."

He pushed a button on his throne opening a door to the side. "As another hint, your bayards lie on the path towards the hangars if you so desire a weapon. Good luck, paladin. Your time starts now!"

* * *

 _ **Good luck Keith! I have some of the next chapter written out already. Hopefully, I can post that really soon. (Reviews could help with that ;) )As always, leave a review with things you liked and/or didn't like. They are really the best way to know if people enjoy what you are writing (and they make the authors happy too.)**_


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